FIND POWER IN YOUR PEOPLE
Reconnect With Your Community...
At a time like this, it is important to remember that we are not alone and have so much more in common than we know. It has always been important to me to serve as an example for women, particularly women of color, in the music industry. This time has made me even more resolved to lean into and support my community, whether that be on an individual level by being a mentor, currently serving in the 2022 Universal Music Group Black Label Uplift mentorship program or on a larger scale by finding ways to volunteer with music and female-led organizations like She Is the Music.
—Erica M. Paul vp/head of digital marketing, Island Records
We are preparing a safe-space session now in response to the overturning of
Roe v. Wade. I am so honored that I get to be a part of building a space and a powerful community that is designed to absorb the shock from the dismissal of reproductive rights for women and nonbinary people. So often in times of racial, gender or socioeconomic injustice, the folx from underrepresented groups are almost immediately called on to organize, develop action plans, implement and execute those plans, and have all of the answers. But those people are also dealing with a great deal of trauma tied to being part of an in-group who are direct targets of those acts of discrimination, and they are rarely given space to unpack the trauma before being called to action. I get to create spaces that were never built for me throughout my career until now. A space to foster emotional connectedness and have respectful, candid conversations. —Debonair Oates-Primus vp of DEI, Oak View Group
...And Rally For It
You have to be the person who constantly rallies your friends and colleagues to action. It’s important to make sure that you and your network of friends and colleagues stay engaged politically, no matter what happens and no matter how big of a setback the Roe v. Wade repeal might feel right now. People tend to get disillusioned after a major loss, and that’s why it’s important to be that friend in your group always rallying people to vote, donate and even run for local office. The person who keeps caring and keeps fighting is the person who can make the biggest difference.
—Peter Shapiro owner,
Brooklyn Bowl
Seek Out An Already Galvanized Group...
I am heartened by the energy that has been sparked by the connected communities who know the reversal of Roe is the beginning of more rights we have taken for granted being stripped. In my community, I am seeing efforts to support candidates who are not local, but who will help course-correct, initially connected by Los Angeles organization Hang Out Do Good. I’ve joined the Walk for Democracy 2022 Planning Committee, one small effort toward connecting to the larger mission to engage and inspire in the midterms. I’m also seeing the punk underground ignite to speak out and energize. Having Bikini Kill on tour again, bringing organizations like SisterSong to their audiences and letting the newer generations of rockers know that we still care and will fight is also keeping me going. —Molly Neuman chief marketing officer, Downtown Music Holdings
...Or Cultivate A New One
As Afro-Latinas who grew up in the Midwest, we’ve always understood that our current system was not made to serve or protect us. And so, we’ve always taken it upon ourselves to cultivate communities of care that extend far beyond our immediate sphere. Take empowerment into your own hands! We have members on our team looking into abortion doula courses so they themselves can be a resource for our community. Join the movement
toward holding a constitutional convention. Our current Constitution is dusty AF and could for sure use some updates. And finally, we need some revolutionary optimism to enter the chat! We have the power and tools to connect, nurture and support each other now more than ever. —Coco and Breezy
Partner With Your Roster
By partnering with their artists, labels looking to make a difference can amplify their reach. For instance, we’re working with our artist Scene Queen on crafting a specific piece of merchandise that will raise funds for charities that support abortion access. Another thing we’ve implemented at Hopeless Records is our Sub City Cause of the Month: We highlight and support various nonprofits each month and donate all the proceeds from our merch store donation option to a specific nonprofit. The charities we support vary from month to month, but this July, we felt it was appropriate to support the National Network of Abortion Funds.
—Erin Choi vp of marketing and product managment, Hopeless Records
Talk To Your Wider Team
Lean on and surround yourself with a likeminded community of both women and men, and allow them to keep you mentally strong and positive whenever possible. As the head of Warner Music Nashville’s women’s employee resource group, I knew that I had an immediate responsibility to do all I could to make sure my female colleagues felt safe and protected by their company. I am lucky to have incredible leaders who all were immediately open to speaking with me on this matter and ensured me that I had their full support in wanting to make sure our women were protected and felt safe.
The women of both Warner Music Nashville and our Center of Excellence offices are all based in Tennessee and will therefore be affected by the state’s heartbeat law that became effective immediately after Roe’s reversal, as well as its trigger law. I therefore reached out to Warner Music’s global head of diversity, equity and inclusion, Dr. Maurice Stinnett. His team immediately put together a Zoom of about 15 to 20 Warner Music personnel, where we discussed not only the expanded benefits options that would now be offered to all employees, considering the recent SCOTUS ruling, but also how we can lean more into the mental health resources that Warner Music offers. It felt wonderful to know that not only was my company one step ahead of my concerns, it was also acknowledging the mental health toll that losing this fundamental right to choice was going to have on individuals. I was given an incredible road map from the leaders on this call, armed with comforting insight as to what steps are being taken from a corporate standpoint, and was therefore able to go back to the women at Warner Music Nashville and assure them: Regardless of where you live, your company will support both your physical and mental health in any way that it can.
—Bridget Herrmann regional manager, radio,
Warner Music Nashville